Sports competition application system

ABSTRACT

A sports competition application system is disclosed. The sports competition application system includes a Bluetooth transceiver device and a Bluetooth read-write device. The Bluetooth transceiver device includes a sensor, a battery, a Bluetooth transceiver chip, a microprocessor, and a storage unit. The sensor is utilized for sensing motion signals of a user. The Bluetooth transceiver chip is utilized for communicating with the Bluetooth read-write device. The microprocessor is utilized for controlling components of the Bluetooth transceiver device. The storage unit is utilized for accessing a code of the user and motion signals sensed by the sensor. The battery is utilized for providing power supply. The Bluetooth transceiver device which is worn by the user is used to monitor accurate locations of the users by the Bluetooth read-write device. By doing so, the users can be rescued on time when accidents occur.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present inventors relates to a sports competition application system, and more particularly, to a low energy Bluetooth device and a sensing device which is applied on athletes to monitor the sports competition progress and for safety management of the athletes by several intermediate Bluetooth detection stations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently, there are numerous sports activities, and since energy conserving and carbon reducing activities are advocated nowadays, swimming, cycling races, and marathon are currently more healthy as well as environmental friendly sports activities. But those above-mentioned sports are usually long-distance sports activities; this means that the sports competition progress monitoring and safety management of the athletes may need numerous human power. If the athletes encounter unexpected situations or feel ill during the long-distance sports activities, staff of the sports activities cannot accurately know the specific locations of the athletes, and a “golden window” rescue time will be missed thus causing regrets.

Athletes currently may wear wrist straps, ankle straps, or the like, with a passive radio frequency identification (RFID), but a defect of the passive RFID is that a response time of the RFID is over 0.1 second, and even a general automated communication component such as a traditional Bluetooth also has a response time over 1 second, and the above-mentioned cannot match the response time requirement in the sports competition which an accuracy must reach hundreds of a second to milliseconds. In addition, the data of the sports competition usually cannot be written in the passive RFID, for instance, a start time, a finish time, and so on. During the sports competition, the motion pace and tempo, rhythm, and amplitude of the athletes can impact the performance of the sports competition thus influencing scores, and those score data can also be utilized for racing results analysis as well as serving as a reference to future races. Therefore, a device which can record sports competition progress of the athlete is necessary.

In addition, by only validating athletes' identities at detecting stations or finishing stations, the occurrences of a pinch runner or a substitute runner in long-distance sports competitions cannot be avoided.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop a method or device to overcome the above-mention detects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, an objective of the present invention is to provide a sports competition application system which is low cost and highly popularized. Also, additional equipment of a network is not necessary, and the network can be established conveniently.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the present invention provides a sports competition application system. The sports competition application system includes at least one Bluetooth transceiver device and at least one Bluetooth read-write device. The Bluetooth transceiver device includes at least one sensor, a battery, a Bluetooth transceiver chip, a microprocessor and a storage unit. The at least one sensor is utilized for sensing motion signals or a user. The Bluetooth transceiver chip Is utilized for communicating with the Bluetooth read-write device. The microprocessor is utilized for controlling components of the Bluetooth transceiver device. The storage unit is utilized for accessing a code of the user and motion signals sensed by the sensor. The battery is utilized for providing power supply. The Bluetooth transceiver device which is worn by the user is utilized to monitor accurate locations of the users by the Bluetooth read-write device.

In the above-mentioned application system, the at least one Bluetooth read-write device is utilized as a detection station, when the user passes by the detection station, related codes in the Bluetooth transceiver device are read and written by the Bluetooth read-write device, and then stored in the devices and a storage system; wherein the detection station is selected from starting, intermediate, and finishing detection station.

In the above-mentioned application system, the storage system is a cloud database.

In the above-mentioned application system, the Bluetooth transceiver device and the Bluetooth read-write device are low energy Bluetooth 4.0 or newer version.

In the above-mentioned application system, the Bluetooth read-write device has cable networking or wireless networking functions.

In the above-mentioned application system, the at least one sensor is an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a digital compass, and a global positioning system (GPS).

In the above-mentioned application system, the motion signals sensed by the at least one sensor are stored in the storage unit in a real-time recording way, the motion signals sensed by the sensor are specific exercise patterns of every users, the exercise patterns of the user are stored in advance, and the motion signals of the user are recorded in every detection station, and an identity of the user is identified to match or not according to the comparison of the stored exercise patterns and real-time recording exercise patterns.

In the above-mentioned application system, the at least one Bluetooth transceiver device is worn on a wrist, an arm, a lower leg, waist, neck, head, chest, a foot, and clothes of the user.

In the above-mentioned application system, the at least one Bluetooth read-write device is further connected with a barcode scanner or a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader, the codes and data of the user ID card are read by the barcode scanner or the RFID tag reader and stored in the storage system.

In the above-mentioned application system, the data of the user comprise name, photograph, personal identity (personal ID number, student card number, drivers license number, employee ID number, barcode of the personal ID, fingerprint), birthday, gender, body weight, height, BMI (Body Mass Index), steps.

In the above-mentioned application system, the motion signals include regular and irregular signals which are produced when the user moves the at least one Bluetooth transceiver device.

The present invention further provides

In the above-mentioned application system, the at least one Bluetooth read-write device is utilized as a detection station, when the user passes by the detection station, related codes in the Bluetooth transceiver device are read and written by the Bluetooth read-write device; the detection station is selected from starting, intermediate, and finishing detection station.

In the above-mentioned application system, the related codes in the Bluetooth transceiver device which are read and written by the Bluetooth read-write device are stored in the devices and a storage system which is a cloud database.

In the above-mentioned application system, the Bluetooth transceiver device and the Bluetooth read-write device and low energy Bluetooth 4.0 or newer version.

In the above-mentioned application system, a recording accuracy of the start time of the sports competition and the finish time of the sports competition is hundreds of a second to milliseconds in accordance with a standard time.

In the above-mentioned application system, the at least one Bluetooth transceiver device is worn on a wrist an arm, a lower leg, waist neck, head, chest, a foot, and clothes of the user.

In the above-mentioned application system, the Bluetooth read-write device has cable networking or wireless networking functions.

In the above-mentioned application system, the at least one Bluetooth read-write device is further connected with a barcode scanner or a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader, the codes and data of the user ID card are obtained by the barcode scanner or the RFID tag reader and stored in the storage system.

In the above-mentioned application system, the data of the user comprise name, photograph, personal identity (personal ID number, student card number, driver's license number, employee ID number, barcode of the personal ID, fingerprint), birthday, gender, body weight height, BMI (Body Mass Index), steps.

In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and as shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of a sports competition according to one preferable embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of a Bluetooth transceiver device according to one preferable embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram of designing and wearing of the device according to one preferable embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4(A), FIG. 4(B) and FIG. 4(C) illustrate diagrams of recording arm's acceleration amplitudes of triaxial directions, X, Y and Z axis, respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of a sports competition application system provided by the present invention are described in detail with the following accompanying diagrams.

Please refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3. FIG. 1 Illustrates a diagram of a sports competition according to one preferable embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of a Bluetooth transceiver device according to one preferable embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram of designing and wearing of the device according to one preferable embodiment of the present invention. The present invention is a sports competition application system, and the sports competition application system includes a Bluetooth transceiver device 1 and Bluetooth read-write devices 30-32. In the present invention, the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 and the Bluetooth read-write devices 30-32 are Bluetooth low energy devices. In this embodiment, the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 includes a sensor 10, a storage unit 11, a Bluetooth transceiver chip 12, a microprocessor 13, a battery 14 and a substrate 15. The Bluetooth transceiver chip 12 is utilized for a inter communication portion of the Bluetooth transceiver device 1. The sensor 10 is utilized for sensing motion signals of an user 2 (competitor), the Bluetooth transceiver chip 12 is utilized for communicating with the Bluetooth read-write devices 30-32, the microprocessor 13 is utilized for controlling components of the Bluetooth transceiver device 1, the storage unit 11 is utilized for accessing a code of the user 2 and motion signals sensed by the sensor 10, the battery 14 is utilized bar providing power supply. In some embodiments, the sensor 10 can be an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a digital compass, and a global positioning system (GPS). In this embodiment, the sensor 10, the storage unit 11, the Bluetooth transceiver chip 12, the microprocessor 13, and the battery 14 are all fixed on the substrate 15.

In the present invention, the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 is installed in a strap device 21, the user 2 can wear the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 by the strap device 21, in this embodiment, the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 can be worn on a wrist, an arm, a lower leg, waist, neck, bead, chest, a foot, and clothes of the user 2.

In the present invention, the Bluetooth read-write devices 30-32 are utilized as a starting detection station 30, an intermediate detection station 31, and a finishing detection station 32, and the Bluetooth read-write devices 30-32 have cable networking and wireless networking functions. Because the Bluetooth read-write devices 30-32 are Bluetooth low energy device, so that the starting detection station 30, the intermediate detection station 31, and the finishing detection station 32 are low energy Bluetooth detection stations. Signals of the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 worn on competitor 2 are transmitted to a storage system of the intermediate detection station 31 when the competitor 2 passes by the intermediate detection station 31. For example, code of the competitor 2 is transmitted to the storage system of the intermediate detection station 31, so that locations of the competitor 2 can be accurately known, and the sports competition progress monitoring arm safety management of the athlete can be achieved also the need of human power can be reduced. In this embodiment, the storage system can be a cloud database.

In a time trial, a start time and a finish time of the competitor 2 have to be recorded accurately, for instance, a marathon, a long-distance cycling race, a long-distance swim race, and so on. Therefore, the starting detection station 30 and the finishing detection station 32 are set in the start point and the finish point respectively, and a plurality of Bluetooth read-write devices (that is, major nodes) are set in every detection station, each of the major nodes may scan more than 255 slave nodes, and each of the slave nodes represents a competitor 2 respectively, and the plurality of Bluetooth read-write devices can scan plural times of the 255 slave nodes effectively, or the plurality of Bluetooth read-write devices can achieve multiple scanning and cross-comparison to prove the identity of every competitor 2.

In the time trial, when the competitor 2 passes by the start point, a method of connecting and writing in is adopted, that is, the competitor 2 is recorded by the way of scanning. When every competitor 2 passes by the starting detection station 30, the method of connecting and writing in is adopted to write in the time when the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 is read to the starting detecting station 30 and the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 worn by the competitor 2 synchronously. Similarly, when every competitor 2 passes by the finishing detection station 12, identification number in the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 worn by the competitor 2 can be written in the finishing detection station 32 and the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 worn by the competitor 2 at the same time, so that the rank of the competitor 2 can be determined.

In the present embodiment, record accuracy of the start time and the finish time of the sports competition is hundreds of a second to milliseconds in accordance with a standard time.

By setting the intermediate detection station 31, conditions of every competitor 2 can be obtained, so that including time of the competitor 2 can be anticipated, if the competitor 2 doesn't appear on time, the competitor 2 can be determined encountering unexpected situations, staffs of the sports competition should check it immediately. In this embodiment, a plurality of intermediate detection stations 31 may be set, that is, the plurality of intermediate detection stations 31 can be set every 1000 meters an intermediate detection station 31 on the racing route, if the racing route is 10 kilometers, then the number of the intermediate detection station 31 is ten. The intermediate detection station 31 can be set every 2 kilometers an intermediate detection station 31 in the longer range racing like marathon and cycling races. In addition, each intermediate detection station 31 must have at least one computer which can connect to network in cable or wireless manners, and the computer can preferably include a dongle corresponding to an erasable Bluetooth transceiver device 1, or a built-in a chip of the erasable Bluetooth transceiver device 1, and a long lasting battery.

In every kind of sports, competitor 2 may provide some basic data when they apply for racings, for instance, name, photograph, personal identity (personal ID number, student card number, driver's license number, employee ID number, barcode of the personal ID, fingerprint), birthday, gender body weight, height, EMI (Body Mass Index), steps, and so on. The Bluetooth transceiver device 1 of the present invention can record the above-mentioned data; especially photograph in JPEG format, so that the competitor 2 can be identified conveniently.

The Bluetooth transceiver device 1 of the present invention can further be integrated with a barcode of personal identification or radio frequency identification (RFID), when the competitor 2 provides personal identification, the barcode or label ID can be obtained through barcode scanner or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader and be stored in the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 of the present invention, the Bluetooth read-write devices 30-32, and storage system. For a convenient usage, the above-mentioned barcode scanner err RFID tag reader can be integrated with the Bluetooth read-write devices 30-32 of the present invention.

In the present embodiment, main component of the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 can be T1 CC2540 or CC2560 which are produced by TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, and a triaxial accelerometer and a button cell CR2032 are integrated with the main component to become the Bluetooth transceiver device 1.

The Bluetooth transceiver device 1 and the Bluetooth read-write devices 30-32 of the present invention both have an advantage of fast response. A low energy Bluetooth 4.0 only spends 7.5 microseconds from a non-connection state to transmitting data starting according to the following such as, a Bluetooth report, Texas Instruments CC2540 Bluetooth® Low Energy Software Developer's Guide v1.0, 2010. A formula about efficacious connecting time=(Connection Interval)*(1+(Slave Latency)) is complied.

A minimum value of the connection Interval is 6 (7.5 microseconds) and a maximum value of the connection interval is 3200 (4 seconds). A minimum value of the slave latency is 0 and a maximum value of the slave latency is 499.

Therefore, if the low energy Bluetooth 4.0 is utilized as a timer, the start time and the finish time of the competitor 2 can be recorded accurately, the accuracy can be close to a hundredth of a second. In addition, adopting a scanning method to detect a Bluetooth identification number in the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 of the competitor 2 can make the response time faster.

The main component utilized in the present invention has an advantage of a non-volatile recording. Data storage an hour is 10.8 Kbyte/hour, for instance, sampling 1 second every 10 seconds and sampling 10 times every seconds and 30 byte every time, and the TI CC2540 has a flash storage for 64 Kbyte, recording time can be more than 6 hours and can meet the time for a standard marathon.

The present invention further has an advantage of able to compare exercise patterns. When every person is walking or running, arms of each of the person have different amplitudes and directions, therefore, the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 with the triaxial accelerometer can measure accelerations of every axis directions. FIGS. 4(A)-(C) illustrate diagrams of recording arm's acceleration amplitudes of triaxial directions. When three athletes do exercises or participate in races, 10 times of the arms amplitudes are recorded, after comparing, differences of the arms amplitudes between the three athletes can be discovered apparently. Ratios between the triaxial directions, Ax:Ay:Az, can be utilized for distinguishing whether the sampling records are belonged to the same athlete. If features of time series, for instance, standard deviation, maximum value, average value, and derivative maximum value, can be transformed into FFT, features of frequency series, for instance, amplitude maximum, value, frequency when the amplitude is at maximum value, and frequency spectrum energy, can be discovered. In this embodiment, a structure of an exercise patterns recognition system can be considered in two parts: 1. training of motion signals samples; 2. motion signals testing. In conceptions of exercise recognition, an unknown exercise pattern is executed pattern recognition with a pro-set exercise pattern model; the steps of the process are as follows: 1. a signal processing skill is utilized, and an input characteristic value of the exercise pattern is captured; 2. the captured characteristic value is stored as a reference sample during the period of the training process; 3. a characteristic value of an unknown exercise pattern is processed to become an under resting sample, the under testing sample is compared with the reference sample to obtain a difference between the under testing sample and the reference sample; 4. a result can be determined according to the difference in every proper decision roles. The exercise pattern is the motion signal sensed by the sensor 10 of the Bluetooth transceiver device 1 of every competitor 2, and the exercise pattern includes regular and irregular feature signals which are produced when the competitor 2 moves the at least one Bluetooth transceiver device worn on the arms.

In aspect of exercise pattern recognition, a technic of MFCC (Mel-scale Frequency Cepstral Coefficient) or a Wavelet Theory can be adopted in first part to capture characteristic parameters of the exercise pattern of the an athlete. A GMM (Gaussian Mixture Model) is adopted in second part to establish an exercise pattern model of the athlete. Exercise pattern signals comparison and recognition are executed in third part. Exercise pattern signals have a continuous characteristic, so that analysis cannot be executed with only single sampling result. Maximum a Posteriori Criterion or GVQ (Group Vector Quantization) can be adopted in this part, and population characteristics in a small range are emphasized in the training process of GVQ. The trained GMM can be a center of a small range group gathering, so that the GVQ like a VQ ANN (Artificial Neural Network) with competitive learning methods can calculate parameter passing possibilities with statistics model as the same way with the traditional VQ method, and an advantage of maintaining high classifying correctness of the ANN. A calculation method of improved GVQ not only keeps mechanism of inputting characteristic parameters into LVQ network in division by CVQ, but also is added a conditional overall training mechanism to compare overall motion signals.

In addition, a recognition engine of the present invention can recognize athletes or competitors through a back-propagation neural network. The back-propagation neural network can be achieved by hardware. By the above-mentioned way, feature capturing and recognition of the recognition system can be achieved by hardware, and the way is more efficacious than achieving it by software.

The occurrences of pinch runners or substitute runners in long-distance sports competitions can be avoided, as long as the exercise patterns of the competitors are stored in advance, so as to be used to check against the exercise patterns of the competitors recorded in every detection station. When the competitors reach the finish point, the recorded exercise patterns during an entire racing time can be analyzed, and the competitor can be easily identified by the pre-stored exercise patterns. The competitor can wear wrist strap and ankle strap with Bluetooth transceiver device synchronously to record compatibility of the competitor during exercise time, and the wrist strap and ankle strap with Bluetooth transceiver device can be a self-trained device, and the recorded exercise patterns can be a basis for accentuation training. Although the above-mentioned example is marathon, the wrist strap and ankle strap with Bluetooth transceiver device can also be utilized in long-distance cycling races, long-distance swim races, and an ironman triathlon.

The present invention has been disclosed as the preferred embodiments above, however, the above preferred embodiments are not described for limiting the present invention, various modifications, alterations and improvements can be made by persons skilled in this art without departing from the spirits and principles of the present invention, and therefore the protection scope of claims of the present invention is based on the range defined by the claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A sports competition application system comprising: at least one Bluetooth transceiver device, and at least one Bluetooth read-write device; the at least one Bluetooth transceiver device comprising a substrate; at least one sensor, being fixed on the substrate and utilized for sensing motion signals of a user; a microprocessor, being fixed on the substrate, electrically connected to the at least one sensor and utilized for controlling components of the Bluetooth transceiver device; a Bluetooth transceiver chip, being fixed on the substrate, electrically connected to the microprocessor and utilized for communicating with the Bluetooth read-write device; a storage unit, being fixed on the substrate, electrically connected to the microprocessor and utilized for accessing a code of the user and motion signals sensed by the sensor, and a battery, being fixed on the substrate and utilized for providing power supply; the Bluetooth transceiver device worn by the user being utilized for monitoring accurate locations of the user by the Bluetooth read-write device.
 2. The sports competition application system of claim 1, wherein the at least one Bluetooth read-write device is utilized as a detection station, when the user passes by the detection station, related codes in the Bluetooth transceiver device are read and written by the Bluetooth read-write device, and then, stored in the devices and a storage system; wherein the detection station is selected horn starting, intermediate, and finishing detection station.
 3. The sports competition application system of claims 2, wherein the storage system is a cloud database.
 4. The sports competition application system of claim 1, wherein the Bluetooth transceiver device and the Bluetooth read-write device are low energy Bluetooth 4.0 or newer version.
 5. The sports competition application system of claim 1, wherein the Bluetooth read-write device has cable networking or wireless networking functions.
 6. The sports competition application system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a digital compass, and a global positioning system (GPS).
 7. The sports competition application system of claim 1, wherein the motion signals sensed by the at least one sensor are stored in the storage unit in a real-time recording way, the motion signals sensed by the sensor are specific exercise patterns of every users, the exercise patterns of the user are stored in advance, and the motion signals of the user are recorded in every detection station, and an identity of the user is identified to match or not according to the comparison of the stored exercise patterns and real-time recording exercise patterns.
 8. The snorts competition application system of claim 1, wherein the at least one Bluetooth transceiver device is worn, on a wrist, an arm, a lower leg, waist, neck, head, chest, a foot, and clothes of the user.
 9. The sports competition application system of claims 1, wherein the at least one Bluetooth read-write device is further connected with a barcode scanner or a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader, the codes and data of the user ID card are read by the barcode scanner or the RFID tag reader and stored in the storage system.
 10. The sports competition application system of claim 11, wherein the data of the user comprise name, photograph, personal identity (personal ID number, student card number, driver's license number, employee ID number, barcode of the personal ID, fingerprint), birthday, gender, body weight, height, BMI (Body Mass Index), steps.
 11. A sports competition application system comprising: at least one Bluetooth transceiver device, and at least one Bluetooth read-write device; the at least one Bluetooth transceiver device comprising a substrate; at least one sensor, being fixed on the substrate and utilized for sensing motion signals of a user; a microprocessor, being fixed on the substrate, electrically connected to the at least one sensor and utilized for controlling components of the Bluetooth transceiver device; a Bluetooth transceiver chip, being fixed on the substrate, electrically connected to the microprocessor and utilized for communicating with the Bluetooth read-write device; a storage unit, being fixed on the substrate, electrically connected to the microprocessor and utilized for accessing a code of the user and motion signals sensed by the sensor, and a battery, being fixed on the substrate and utilized for providing power supply; the Bluetooth transceiver device worn by the user being utilized ha monitoring accurate locations of the users by the Bluetooth read-write device, the start time of the sports competition, and the finish time of the sports competition being monitored by the Bluetooth read-write device.
 12. The sports competition application system of claim 11, wherein the at least one Bluetooth read-write device is utilized as a detection station, when the user passes by the detection station, related codes in the Bluetooth transceiver device are read and written by the Bluetooth read-write device; the detection station is selected from starting, intermediate, and finishing detection station.
 13. The sports competition application system of claims 12, wherein the related codes in the Bluetooth transceiver device which are read and written by the Bluetooth read-write device are stored in the devices and a storage system, which is a cloud database.
 14. The sports competition application system of claim 11, wherein the Bluetooth transceiver device and the Bluetooth read-write device are low energy Bluetooth 4.0 or newer version.
 15. The sports competition application system of claim 11, wherein a recording accuracy of the start time of the sports competition and the finish time of the sports competition is hundreds of a second to milliseconds in accordance with a standard time.
 16. The sports competition application system of claim 11, wherein the at least one Bluetooth transceiver device is worn on a wrist, an arm, a lower leg, waist, neck, bead, chest, a foot, and clothes of the user.
 17. The sports competition application system of claim 11, wherein the Bluetooth read-write device has cable networking or wireless networking functions.
 18. The sports competition application system of claims 11, wherein the at least one Bluetooth read-write device is further connected with a barcode scanner or a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader, the codes and data of the user ID card are obtained by the barcode scanner or the RFID tag reader and stored in the storage system.
 19. The sports competition application system of claim 18, wherein the data of the user comprise name, photograph, personal identity (personal ID number, student card number, driver's license number, employee ID number, barcode of the personal ID, fingerprint), birthday gender, body weight, height, BMI (Body Mass index), steps. 